Family Resemblance
by Kelly Holden
Summary: Candid Shots universe, canon era prequel. An old friend of Alexandra's visits Lazytown. Not a stand alone, at least read Baby Photos. No pairing, queer themes.


Not quite a CS update, but it's that universe.

If you read this when it was first posted, you can see I changed the OFC's name. Apparently Becca was offended.

* * *

'Please speak Fey,' Jessica thought, as she walked up to the obviously Pixie-blooded young lady on the playground. 

"Excuse me, miss, could you direct me to the town hall?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," the girl replied in English, "I don't speak Fey."

"The..." Jessica tried to remember the word, gave up and scrambled for her phrase book. "Town hall?" she read. "Where is?" she added, to clarify.

The girl pointed, speaking in rapid-fire English that was impossible to follow.

"Can you show me?" Jessica asked.

"Sure," the girl said, and took her arm, leading her to an impressive building she probably should have noticed before.

"Thank you," Jessica replied, glad to have another pixie face around even if she didn't speak her language. "My name is Jessica."

"I'm Stephanie," the girl replied with a blinding grin. "Pleased to meet you." She stuck out her hand, and it took Jessica a second to remember that humans of affluent cultures usually shook hands as a greeting.

"Pleased to meet you," she echoed, trying her best to imitate the way Stephanie had sounded, as she took the hand to shake. Stephanie seemed to find this amusing, giggling in reply. She then appeared to catch sight of someone behind Jessica.

"Sportacus!" she yelled in delight, rushing past. Jessica knew that name: Alexandra Sportacus, who last she had heard was training to be the tenth hero in the Sportacus line, had been her best elven friend as a child, though eventually the friendship had declined from lack of contact.

She was sorely disappointed on turning around herself, however. This Sportacus _couldn't_ be Alex, as he was clearly a man. His likeness to Alex was, although uncanny, clearly just a family resemblance. The hero mantle obviously had never gone to her, as ten was the number _this_ elf wore.

"Stephanie!" he cried, obviously in equal delight. She ran to him, and he snatched her up for a hug, even though, being a pixie after all, she was nearly as tall as him. He put her down again, and he and Stephanie began to converse in English, far too quickly for Jessica to follow.

Jessica's heart sunk. She'd hoped the too-fast English she'd encountered previously was a city anomaly, but if an Elf and a Pixie in a village spoke at that speed, she didn't have a hope of keeping up.

She waited for a break in the conversation. "Last I heard, Alexandra was in line to be Sportacus Ten. What happened? I know her Papa wasn't happy about the next hero in the line being a woman, but I didn't think he'd actually change his mind altogether. I'm Jessica, a friend from when she was young."

Sportacus looked shocked. "I know who you are. It's ... complicated. How long are you here for?"

"The elf clan mine is associated with think they've found the illegitimate, and only, child of one of their recently deceased members. Apparently she works here, an Elisabeth Busybody. I was sent because my English was best, but I've realised it's not good enough."

"I can translate, Jessica, don't worry. I can explain about Alexandra after you talk to Bessie."

Elisabeth, or 'Bessie', as Sportacus called her, was rather resistant to the idea that she might be a quarter Elven. Or illegitimate, Jessica couldn't tell for sure through the translation. Sportacus ended up having a rather drawn-out conversation with her that Jessica could understand maybe a quarter of, instead of translating and letting _her_ try to convince the woman.

"She's agreed to the DNA test, but won't commit to accepting her inheritance even if he was her biological father," Sportacus reported as he lead her out.

Jessica sighed. "Henry's will said 'to my daughter _Elisabeth Busybody_.' It's hers even if she is no blood relation. He wanted her to have it, and the clan want to make sure one of their own is well provided for, even if she isn't really, Henry just thought she was."

"Bessie's got a good job, and the Mayor looks after her very well. He'd marry her with no hesitations if she stopped playing with his heart. She doesn't need Henry's money."

"You were going to explain about Alex not being Sportacus Ten," Jessica said, not wanting to drag the subject of the possibly elven woman out any longer.

"Yes, I was." He sighed. "_I'm_ Alex. Alexander now, though I rarely have need of that name because I'm Sportacus Ten."

She stared at him. " You can't be."

He took his backpack off, and fished in it, pulling out an Ætherian passport and handing to to her, which turned out to be in the name of Alexander James Sportacus.

"James?" she asked shakily. This was too much to handle right now.

"Well, I would hardly leave my middle name as Elisabeth, now, could I?"

"I... Why? Is it because your papa didn't want Sportacus Ten to be a woman?"

"Hardly. Papa was against it. Do you remember how irritated I was when he redesigned my uniform so it had a skirt?"

Jessica nodded. "You were furious."

"I'm a man, but my biology didn't agree, and I've done my best to fix it, that's all."

"Are you sure you're not just a butch dyke?" she blurted out. Alex gave her a cold look.

"Do you remember how weirded out we were when we discovered we both fancied Johnny B. Bad?"

"Of course I do. It was weird because usually you liked Elves and I liked Pixies, but he was human. But I don't see..."

"He's a _man_. I still like men. Exclusively. I'm a gay man, Jessie, not a butch lesbian, or anything else along those lines."

"I still don't understand," she said, then stepped forward to hug Alex, "But I'm pleased to see you again."


End file.
